


A winter story

by Oberyn2206



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare, Romeo et Juliette - Presgurvic
Genre: M/M, all credits go to the rightful owners, inspired by a short story i learned at school, still pretty proud of it though tehee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 09:27:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8974186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oberyn2206/pseuds/Oberyn2206
Summary: He cursed the world. But what would that do? The world was everything, but didn't belong to anyone. Then he cursed the Earth. But the Earth was no one's property, either. Being out of his temper, he cursed the whole Verona. But responded to him was only the silence of the people asleep and the rumble of the crickets in bushes. Damnit! It was so upsetting! What a waste of wine! Getting frustrated, he cursed the people who never understood him. How miserable he was. Ah ha! That was it! He just kept cursing those who never understood him, he cursed those who led his life to misery, cursed that damn one who had gave birth to him, the one who had gave birth to Tybalt Capulet.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've planned on writing this since I study the short story ''Chi Pheo'' (by the writer called Nam Cao) at school cause I found his main character was pretty like Tybalt. This fanfic is inspired by his work, though it doesn't have a tragic ending like the original. All credits will go to the rightful owners.

He muttered to himself fretfully as he walked down the quiet and damp streets. Every drinking night was the same. Whenever he got drunk, he felt annoyed and muttered continuously.

He kept wandering, kept muttering. He cursed the world. But what would that do? The world was everything, but didn't belong to anyone. Then he cursed the Earth. But the Earth was no one's property, either. Being out of his temper, he cursed the whole Verona. But responded to him was only the silence of the people asleep and the rumble of the crickets in bushes. Damnit! It was so upsetting! What a waste of wine! Getting frustrated, he cursed the people who never understood him. How miserable he was. Ah ha! That was it! He just kept cursing those who never understood him, he cursed those who led his life to misery, cursed that damn one who had gave birth to him, the one who had gave birth to Tybalt Capulet.

***

One day the people of Verona noticed that the Capulets had adopted a boy. He was only ten years old, but the sadness on his stoned face made him look much older. He was the elder cousin of Juliet Capulet who was the only daughter of Lady and Lord Capulet. No one ever knew what had happened to him that made him move to live in his uncle's home. Some said his father and mother didn’t want him anymore and had moved. Some said his father and mother had been killed. But rumors were only rumors, and the little boy was so depressed that he barely wanted to speak.

***

"Please, stop fighting! I'm trying to keep the peace!"

"Peace?" He gritted his teeth as he tightened his hold on his sword. "You're holding a sword, and you want to talk about peace? Peace. I hate that word like I hate Hell, as well as you Montagues!"

That was a cliché of his life. He was always full of hatred and rage. His family had taught him how to be a tough warrior and not to have mercy towards his enemy. _People always want war, and so do you._ He could hear their voices echo by his ears day by day. _You must take revenge for your parents, for your family. Fight. You must always win, Tybalt._ Oh how miserable he was. How empty he felt. He was a man with no age. How old was he then? Twenty or twenty-one, twenty-two or nearly twenty-five? His face was not young nor old, but it was lifeless. A face that was grey the cold color of ash. His face was flawless, but his soul was full of scars. The scars of the times he started the blood sheds in the streets of Verona, how many times, how could he remember? Those violent things he had done was his life, those fights he fought in the name of revenge. _Revenge_. There were times when he was afraid of that word like sick people who were afraid of eating. There were times when he forgot that he really lived. His life was a circle of violence and hatred. Perhaps he knew he was the devil living among people and barely a soul wanted to be near him.

The winter had arrived. The dull weather only worsened his mood. At least the snow and the cold could freeze his urge to fight for a couple of months. Even though, his bad-temper brought a grumpy look on his face all the times, therefore the people hardly opened their hearts to talk to him and chose to ignore him whenever they saw him in the streets.

It was still evening when he got drunk again. The moon rose quite early at this time of year. It was nearly full and could be seen clearly on the sky, even though it was not dark yet. The street lamps had been on and shone their light along the damp deserted streets. _Oh, what is this? What is this, black and crooked on the white snowy path? It was long and deformed to the left, it shortened then grew longer, was torn at some parts._ It kept sticking to his feet. He stopped to look at it, and suddenly, he burst out laughing. The long black thing was only his shadow.

‘’What’s so funny?’’

It took Tybalt by no surprise when he saw who was watching him. It was Mercutio, one of the Prince’s nephews. His jokes were even more annoying and uneasier to his ears than the doomsday horns blowing sound. Mercutio was there whenever there was a fight, and Tybalt was perhaps used to being made fun of by him, though he always wanted to punch the soul off the body of that noble man.

‘’It’s not your business. _Hic_.’’

He answered with the weary voice of a drunk man who had not sobered up yet. His feet led him to the other young man but then immediately staggered back and he fell backwards.

‘’Whoops! Be careful! One second slower and I can’t keep you from falling to the water! I can’t fight with a frozen cat, you know!’’

Tybalt burst out laughing again, he laughed himself helpless as helped himself stand up from Mercutio’s embrace. He unsteadily walked away, still laughing.

‘’You should go home, you’re drunk!’’

‘’I told you- _hic_ \- this’s not your bus- _hic_ -iness! And I’m- _hic_ -not- _hic_ -drunk!’’

So saying, he turned his back to the other man and about to leave. A hand reached out to hold his arm back but he pulled it out furiously, the force he caused made him lose his balance and pushed him down the thick snow.

‘’Apparently, you are drunk.’’ Mercutio smirked as he stood hovering above the other, his hands on his knees. His smirk gradually turned into a wide grin, and Tybalt only had one dream to knock that grin out of that face. But he couldn’t. The snow was freezing under his back, his face was burning red and his breath stank of alcohol. His eyes were so heavy, and his sight grew darker and darker.

The moon was still awake, was still shinning bright in the dead of night. It was midnight when Tybalt sat with half of his body propped up. He felt sick, his limbs flagging, as if he had been starving for days. His stomach ached. It hurt, the hurt got worse and worse. The blowing wind made him shiver. He wanted to stand up. His head felt so heavy but his legs could barely move. His eyes dazzled. His hands quickly grabbed the bin next to his bed. And he vomited. God. He could feel as if his organs had all turned upside down. He felt so tired. He dropped himself back on the bed, his sight was blur, he could only moan softly.

‘’Did you just throw up?’’

His eyes rolled to see the nurse at his door, then immediately became bleary again.

‘’You should stop drinking.’’ The nurse started. ‘’I’m worried for your health. You’re having a fever. You couldn’t even come home on your own.’’

‘’How did I come home, then?’’

‘’A friend of yours took you here. I can’t figure out who he is, it was too dark. But he seems to be a nice young gentleman. I’ll get you some medicine now. You need some rest.’’

He gently nodded, though his head couldn’t move, only the eyelids did a bit.

When Tybalt woke up, the sun was high, but the cold and dull atmosphere of the winter was still there. He somehow felt sad. A sadness approached with no reason. And he felt lonely.

***

It was too cold outside, so there was almost nobody on the streets. He kept walking. Today he didn’t drink. He suddenly became sick of the smell of alcohol. His pace on the wet melted-snowy path grew slower and stop when he heard his name being called out. He knew that voice, it was Mercutio's. He sighed. He wasn't in the mood for talking, or arguing, or anything.

''What do I have to do with you, Montagues' friend?'' He said coldly but didn’t forget to grit his teeth at the name. The other just laughed and replied, mimicked Tybalt's voice the day before.

''It's not your business!''

''I'm not in the mood for jokes. What do you want from me?''

''You were sick yesterday.’’

‘’Yes, and?’’

‘’Have you got better?''

Tybalt rolled his eyes and snorted. ''Oh, now Mercutio the Great - Friends of the Montagues cares about me. How moved. I'm fine. Thank you, sir.''

So saying, Tybalt turned on his heels to walk away. He wanted to go, to hide, hide himself from that noble man. _How could he see him again after last evening incident? It was such an embarrassment!_ Mercutio tried to reach out for his arm, but he pushed him away, kept himself from falling this time. He ignored the other and kept walking ahead, too busy with his thoughts to realize the other had been following him.

 

‘’Tybalt! Isn’t this snowman cute?’’

He sighed. Hadn’t he told that man that he didn’t want to fool around? Though, he managed to face the other and answered brieftly. ‘’No.’’

The Prince’s nephew pouted. ‘’You spoil all the fun, my King of Cats. I thought you would find it cute like me.’’

‘’So?’’

‘’I thought it would make you less grumpy!’’

He didn’t say a word, and walked towards Mercutio. Before the other could think of anything to speak, he pushed him down and the Prince’s nephew fell onto the snowman. ‘’Now the snowman is adorable.’’ He said flatly with a poker face and a slight smile before leaving.

***

He quickened his paces on the damp paths. He didn’t know there were small tears rolling on his burning red cheeks.

 

Lady Capulet noticed the difference in her dear nephew’s attitude the whole morning. Usually, she wouldn’t, but the nurse had recognized it first and her non-stop mouth had spilled the beans. Ah, it turned out that he had received a present, probably from someone special.  He had no hesitance letting her know who sent it to him.

Lady Capulet burst out laughing. She thought her nephew was joking. But then she remembered that her nephew was a serious one and would never joke with his family. She suddenly began to panic. How could her nephew befriend with the royal Mercutio? Even though Mercutio was one of the Prince’s nephew, he was a friend of her family’s enemy, a friend of the Montagues. She couldn’t accept that. She was mad. She was mad at her own nephew. She argued with him, she tried to snatch the thing he was hold in his arms. She told him at once. ‘’I would like you to return this thing. I can’t accept my dear nephew, the only son of my beloved brother involving with our enemy’s friend. All you have towards him is also hatred and disgust. You hear me!’’

He was furious with anger at her words. But how could he talk back? She had her own reasons. But since he couldn’t argue back, his anger grew higher. He was mad. Really mad. But he couldn’t just go out and cause another fight. He needed to released his anger on one person. He wanted to released his anger on one person. He flew off the handle and ran out the Capulets mansion.

 

He quickened his paces on the damp paths. He didn’t know there were small tears rolling on his burning red cheeks. He cursed the group of young men on his way. _Or should he? They were Montagues!_ His eyes widened, his pupil shrank as he saw him among the group. He could feel his anger burn up inside him. He thought he could run towards him and fight him to death. But he could only end up saying. ‘’Mercutio, we need to talk.’’

 ***

‘’Do you like my gift?’’

‘’I appreciate your goodness. But I can’t take this.” He sadly said as he handed the gift back to the other.

‘’You don’t want it? Is it because it doesn’t fit you? Don’t you like the color? Don’t yo-‘’

‘’No, there’re just some personal reasons. Please, take it back.”

“But I insist you taking it! I chose it for you!’’

“Please, Mercutio. Listen, at least for once. I love it, but I can’t.” He paused as he started to shake slightly. “We…we need to be back like before, when we show each other only hatred and insults and other things, not giving gifts like this.’’

The other was suddenly woozy. Then he understood. He took the gift back. It was such a beautiful coat, it took him so much time choosing it. But instead of keeping it, he went behind Tybalt and cover his back with the coat.

‘’Comfy?’’

“I don’t need this. I don’t need you take care of me.”

“Then what do you need?”

“I need kindness… I want to be a kind-hearted…”

“Then what stops you from being so?’’

He shook his head. ‘’I can’t! This city, my family… is infected with the poison of hatred! Who allows me to be a kind-hearted? How can I erase all the scars engraved in my soul? I can’t be a good person anymore! Do you know that? I can’t! I can’t…I can’t…’’ His voice broke between tears, his shoulders started to shake.

Mercutio didn’t know how long had he held the other in his arms. Minutes passed, and it was Tybalt who started first. “Thank you.”

“Fear not. You can be the person you want to be. I’ll help you.’’ He let go the other and cupped his cheeks in his hands. ‘’We’ll make it out together.” The other nodded gently.

‘’You know what day is today?’’

“I don’t remember.” Tybalt sighed.

“It’s Christmas.”

“Then, merry Christmas.”

“Um… You know what?”

“What?”

“I’m having a mistletoe here.” He grinned widely as he pick a mistletoe from his pocket and held them above them both.

“Merry Christmas.”

And they kissed.


End file.
